


A Hyena's Pride

by Dragonspy007



Category: The Lion King (1994), The Lion King (2019)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, M/M, except Mufasa because he commits a hate crime, the hyenas are valid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29341218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonspy007/pseuds/Dragonspy007
Summary: At the edge of the Pride Lands, in the Elephant Graveyard, three outcast hyenas struggle to make a living. Led by Shenzi, the three hyenas get involved with the political struggle between Mufasa and Scar while doing their best to survive. A rewrite of the original Lion King from the perspective of the hyenas.
Relationships: Kamari/Azizi (The Lion King), Shenzi/Sarabi (The Lion King)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	A Hyena's Pride

**Author's Note:**

> I used the hyena names from the 2019 remake (so Azizi instead of Ed and Kamari instead of Banzai) but everything else remains consistent with the original 1994 version.

Shenzi was hungry. 

It had been days since her last meal, and the constant pain in her stomach was an ever present reminder of that. Despite her desperation, food was only growing ever more scarce. There was visual evidence of her constant struggle as well, and although she tried to hide it, she was smaller and scrawnier than most hyenas and one look at her told most animals why. 

An uncomfortable silence had fallen over the Elephant Graveyard the hyenas called home, broken only by the occasional hiss of the volcanic gasses escaping from underground. The female hyena was calmly pawing through a collection of old bones, hoping to find a small scrap of meat that she had missed in the past, maybe a small bit of antelope or zebra. Even though she was under no illusion of the chances she might actually find something and despite the pain in her stomach, she kept searching. Unfortunately, she had long picked clean anything from the bones which were now an unsatisfying shade of white. With a growl she knocked away the nearest bone, causing it to clatter across the room, scraping against the rocky ground. 

Shenzi was so hungry.

“I couldn’t find anything in the scraps by the vents.” A voice said from a few feet away. Shenzi could see that it was one of her fellow hyenas, Kamari. He was smaller and skinnier than Shenzi, and the smallest of the trio of hyenas that made up their small clan. His most notable feature was the scar over his left eye which ran along most of his upper face. He pushed some bones away as he stepped forward, causing them to rattle slightly. “We can’t find anything anywhere.” 

Shenzi’s gaze shifted out of the bone filled caldera that was devoid of any viable food, further out towards the Pride Lands. She always hated when it came to this, but she knew it was always inevitable. No other animals lived in the elephant graveyard besides them and it was rare for any animal to wander into accidentally. “We have to go to the Pride Lands. We’ll be able to find some food there.” 

“The Pride Lands? Are you crazy? The Pride Lands where…. You know who rules? _Those_ Pride Lands?” Kamari asked. He was so shocked, he couldn’t hide the slight hint of fear that creeped into his voice. Shenzi looked at him with a hint of pity in her eyes, which caused Kamari to quickly backtrack and say, “Not that I’m scared or anything. I could take you know who.” 

Shenzi couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of fighting the lion king which ruled over the Pride Lands. Even just hearing him mentioned in the mouth of a hyena was enough to put her on edge. She put on a brave smile, deciding to humor Kamari, “Sure you could. We’ll go fight him and you’ll kill him. Thanks for solving all of our problems.” 

Deciding to ignore Shenzi’s latest comment, Kamari simply rolled his eyes. “What about your mysterious source? The one you refuse to tell us anything about. Can’t they get us anything? Are you ever going to even tell us who they are?”  
As a small wave of melancholy sadness swept over her, Shenzi shook her head. “No, she can’t help us. If anyone finds out who she is, they’d kill her. Then we would truly be on our own.” 

“I know that, but can’t she get us some food, anyways?” Kamari asked. 

Shenzi ignored him and stepped through the pile of bones so she could walk past him. She made her way through the Elephant Graveyard, careful to avoid stepping in all the places that she knew were fragile and could release volcanic gas if too much pressure was placed on them. 

Kamari was quick to follow after her, saying, “You didn’t say no. I’m just saying, it's a better plan than running into the Pride Lands!” 

“I thought you said you could take any trouble we ran into.” Shenzi said.

The two of them stepped into a clearing, where the last member of their trio was, laying on the dry and cracked earth. Azizi was stronger and larger than Kamari and even Shenzi. He was chewing on some old bone, trying to get at anything that might be left on it that he could eat. But his effort proved fruitless as all he ended up doing was slobbering on some old bone without finding anything to even remotely sate his appetite. “You want to go into the Pride Lands? The ones ruled by…. Well you know...” 

Shenzi nodded, pushing her own fears aside at the thought of this excursion. “Yeah, those Pride Lands.” 

“Well count me in then.” Azizi said, standing up, leaving his bone abandoned on the ground now that he had a better option. 

Shenzi turned back to Kamari with a smile and smugly said, “See, he agrees with me.” She put on her best facade of confidence and hoped it was enough to convince the two hyenas. 

After a gasp, Kamari glared at Azizi. “Well of course he wants to go along with the plan.” He muttered, rolling his eyes again. 

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Azizi asked as he started to circle around Kamari, baring his teeth. 

Kamari was quick to return the gesture and it wasn’t long before the two of them were growling at each other. The smaller hyena began to move so he was circling Azizi back as Shenzi sighed. 

“We don’t have time for this.” She said, “We gain nothing from fighting each other.” 

“At least I’m not scared to fight.” Azizi said. 

“And what was that supposed to mean?” Kamari barked before he lunged at Azizi. 

It took almost no effort for Azizi to knock the smaller hyena aside as soon as he jumped. Kamri slammed into the ground, crushing some old decrepit bones underneath his body before he climbed to his feet again. “I’ll show you who’s scared.” He muttered before he lunged at Azizi again, only to be easily repelled a second time. 

Before he could lunge a third time, a deep growl from Shenzi caused him to pause. “If we stay here and fight each other, then we are all going to starve to death!” She snapped. “Now would you please help me get something productive done?”  
Both Azizi and Kamari lowered their heads in shame as they muttered at the same time, “Sorry Shenzi…” Getting yelled at made them both calm down quickly, even though they were still sneaking dirty looks at one another.

“We only have one choice, and that is to find something to eat. And the only place we are going to do that, is in the Pride Lands, so that's where we need to go. As long as we are quick, nobody will ever even know we are there.” She said. 

Kamari was still hesitant, he could still remember the consequences for hyenas that wandered into the territory of a lion. But in the end he knew that Shenzi was right. Even if he thought that Shenzi was wrong, he still trusted her. The growl coming from his stomach also helped convince him to go, the thought of something fresh to eat practically made him drool. He was tired of chewing on dusty bones and rocks just to give his sharp teeth something to do. Maybe they could catch some antelope, or even better, some wildebeest. “You’re right Shenzi, we follow your lead.” 

Putting on a brave smile, Shenzi began to climb her way out of the graveyard, with her two clan mates right behind her. The easiest way out was climbing over a large white skull of an ancient and large elephant and then up onto a bluff which led to the thriving and plant covered Pride Lands.

As they climbed out, Azizi asked, “If we do run into the king, what exactly do we do?”

Shenzi hesitated for the second, as both Azizi and Kamari awaited an answer. When it came, it was only a single word, “Run.” 

“But wouldn’t he be faster than-” Kamari began to say. 

“You run, I will distract him.” Shenzi interrupted. 

Running up in front of her and cutting her off so he could make eye contact, Kamari said, “Are you serious? You can’t be serious.” 

Shenzi pushed past him and kept walking. “It's the only way. Besides, it won’t happen, because we aren’t going to run into the king, because we are going to leave the Pride Lands before he even knew we were there.” She didn’t wait for his response, rushing forward, forcing the other two hyenas to start to run to keep up. 

It wasn’t long before the trio emerged from the Elephant Graveyard and onto the Pride Lands. Kamari couldn’t help but hesitate for a second, his paw hovering in the air for a second before it pressed down on the green grass which marked the end of their territory. The fresh smell of the grass was overwhelming, as was the distant scent of a variety of animals such as antelope and zebras which made the grumbling in his stomach grow. Unfortunately the nauseous feeling in his stomach also grew, as he looked over towards the distant Pride Rock which loomed over them.

With Shenzi leading them, it wasn't long before they came upon a small herd of antelope grazing on the grass. The three of them were careful to work their way through the grass as quietly as possible and staying downwind so they could avoid giving up their position. Shenzi gestured for Kamari to go to the left, and Azizi to go right as she went up the middle. 

It wasn’t long before the three hyenas emerged and charged at one of the antelopes, causing all of them to turn and run as fast as they could.

Azizi quickly pulled ahead of both Kamari and Shenzi in their pursuit of one of the antelopes. Shenzi couldn’t help but roll her eyes as Kamari began to fall behind her, but her mood improved when Azizi managed to get right behind one of the antelopes. After several moments of chasing, a gap had opened up between Kamari and Shenzi and between Shenzi and Azizi, but the gap between Azizi and the antelope was only getting shorter. 

With a single lunge, Azizi managed to not only catch up to the antelope, but dig his teeth into the back of the animal forcing him to the ground. Shenzi smiled as she sprinted to catch up to the animal, so she could help Azizi finish off their prey. A wave of relief came over her as she realized that she and that others were going to be able to eat. 

But then something strange happened. After Azizi managed to bring down the antelope, he hesitated and took a step back. It was only a few seconds of hesitation, but it was enough for this antelope to climb back to their feet and start limping away, still bleeding, with Azizi watching them run away.

Shenzi ran past Azizi and kept chasing the antelope, while Kamari caught up to Azizi and stopped. “What happened? Why didn’t you finish them?” Kamari demanded. 

Azizi took a step back and lowered his head. “He looked so scared.” He muttered. 

After a second, Kamari realized what Azizi was saying exactly. “You let him go?” He demanded, pushing Azizi further back. 

“I’m sorry…” Azizi muttered weakly. 

Before Kamari could respond, their conversation was cut off by a guttural roar. It was as deep as thunder but its volume made Kamari certain that its origin was much closer. Both hyenas completely froze, before they turned, very slowly, to see where the roar came from. Standing proudly was a lion with thick yellow fur and a regal crimson mane which only slightly seemed to flutter in the wind which touched the savannah. Kamari recognized him immediately as Mufasa, the king of the Lions and of all of the Pride Lands. His voice was as deep as his roar, as the lion asked, “What are you doing in the Pride Lands, scavengers?” 

“Oh these are the Pride Lands?” Kamari began to say, giving his best innocent smile as he began to quickly step back. “We had no idea, we’ll just be going now.” Kamari turned to leave, but he froze when the lion let out another roar. The hyena did his best to ignore the trembling in his legs, and he hoped that nobody else would be able to notice it. 

“You know hyenas are forbidden from entering the Pride Lands. You have no place here. The consequences are severe for trespassers.” The lion held up his hand with his claws extended to prove his point which caused Kamari to shudder. 

“We had no idea where we were!” Kamari lied, “Look, we just got lost. No harm done, we can just leave now.” He was slowly taking steps back away from Mufasa, his brain screaming at him to get as far away from the lion as possible 

“We didn’t even kill anything.” Azizi said, “The antelope got away.” 

“You aren’t helping, Azizi!” Kamari snapped at his companion. 

The larger hyena averted his gaze to the ground as he said, “I’m just saying… we haven’t stolen anything.” 

The large lion stepped forward, focusing his attention on Kamari. His eyes stared at the scar that ran across Kamari’s right eye as he said, “It seems you never learned your lesson.” 

“After a quick period of introspection, I have learned it.” Kamari said, his clever tone giving way to a fearful whimper as he lowered his head in a doomed attempt to de-escalate. “No need to teach another.” He tried to step back away from the lion, but Mufasa surged forward. It wasn’t long before the lion loomed over him. Kamari wanted to run away, but he didn’t like his chances. Running away might just make Mufasa more upset than the lion already was and there was no way he could make it all the way back to the Elephant Graveyard before the king managed to catch him. 

As he looked down at Kamari, Mufasa put a single extended claw up to the hyena’s face, gently running the claw along Kamari’s brown fur. The moment he felt, the claw against his face, Kamari let out a small whimper. As he ignored how Kamari was trembling, Mufasa said, “It seems you have much to learn.” He positioned his claw, right above Kamari’s eye and began to slowly apply pressure.

“Mufasa!” Came a voice from nearby. All three of them turned to look to see Shenzi standing there, growling at Mufasa. 

Mufasa immediately turned his attention away from Kamari and started to step towards Shenzi. When he spoke, his words were filled with a deep rage that the other two hyenas didn’t know the king was capable of. “Shenzi, I told you I would kill you if you ever dared to show your face to me.” 

“You’d have to catch me first.” She boasted as the two of them began to circle each other. 

Kamari’s mind was racing as Mufasa turned his attention away. Even though he hadn’t gotten away yet, he still couldn’t help but feel relieved. When Mufasa let go of him, Kamari let out an involuntary whine. He knew that with Mufasa distracted this might be the only chance he could have to get away. All he could think about was getting as far away from Mufasa as he could possibly manage. 

So he ran. 

He left both Shenzi and Azizi behind, and he ran as fast as he could. He felt the green grass under his paws and the wind in his face, his eyes fixated on the border to the elephant graveyard in the distance. He didn’t dare look back, too afraid of what he could see. His imagination ran wild with images of Shenzi and Azizi being horribly torn apart by Mufasa. Even so, the thought of going back never crossed his mind. 

It wasn’t until he had crossed back into the Elephant Graveyard that he slowed down. Panting, he finally worked up the courage to look back towards the border with the Pride Lands, but nobody followed him. Kamari let out a small sigh of relief when he saw that Mufasa hadn’t followed him, at least not yet. Azizi didn’t follow him either, but if he didn’t run away, that was his problem. 

As he looked towards the Pride Lands, he couldn’t get the image of Mufasa appearing at the border and chasing him down out of his head. Even here, on turf that he knew, Kamari knew he stood no chance in a fight. So Kamari ran over to one of the massive elephant skulls and climbed inside it. Doing his best to ignore the cold, Kamari laid down and made himself as small as possible while staring out the hole in the skull where the elephant’s jaw once would have been. 

Kamari was too scared to emerge from the skull, doing his best to be perfectly still. The minutes dragged on, but Mufasa never appeared, but neither did Shenzi nor Azizi. He had started to fear the worst, when movement appeared on the border, Kamari’s heart pounded in his chest even louder until Kamari realized that it was Azizi and not the lion. 

As Azizi came into the elephant graveyard, the hyena looked around confused. “Kamari? Where did you go? Are you here?” 

“Yes, Azizi I am here.” Kamari responded, calling out from the skull.

The confusion only deepened on Azizi’s face as he looked around again. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t see his friend anywhere. “Kamari… can you turn invisible now?” He asked. 

Kamari let out an exhausted sigh. “No I’m in the skull!” 

“Oh you are hiding! Good idea.” Azizi said as he happily sauntered over to where Kamari’s voice was coming from. 

“I’m not hiding!” Kamari snapped. 

“Then why are you in the elephant skull?” Azizi climbed into the skull and laid down next to Kamari so their backs were against each other. The heat from Azizi was a welcome change, but Kamari still shifted away slightly. 

Kamari decided to ignore Azizi’s last question, and instead said, “Why are you so close?” 

“Well there isn’t a whole lot of room in this skull…” Azizi points out as he shifts, pushing against Kamari. 

“Why are you in here at all?” 

“Well if you are hiding…” Azizi pointed out, “Then shouldn’t I also be hiding?” 

“I’m not hiding!” Kamari insisted, “If you want to hide why don’t you go hide somewhere else? Somewhere else that isn’t right on top of me?” 

“Oh sorry…” Azizi muttered, his voice low and filled with enough sadness that it made Kamari reconsider. Azizi climbed to his feet and started to walk away. 

“Wait…. Come back. Just don’t sit so close to me.” 

When Azizi turned back, his tongue was hanging out as he smiled and he sat right back down where he was sitting before. Kamari let out a sigh, but he didn’t protest. 

The two hyenas sat in silence for a few moments as Kamari kept an eye on the border in case Mufasa appeared. As the lion’s appearance became more and more unlikely, Kamari slowly began to relax, until eventually he dared to ask, “What happened to Shenzi?” 

“I don’t know, she was still talking to him.” 

“Talking to him?” Kamari demanded, “What does she think she is doing?”

Azizi used his hind leg to scratch behind his ear. “I don’t know, why don’t you ask her when she gets back?” 

“If she gets back…” Kamari couldn’t get the sound of Mufasa’s voice out of his head. The lion sounded angry, more angry that simple trespassing and poaching would warrant. “I’ve never heard him that angry before…” 

“I’ve never even met him before today. He is even more impressive than I thought he would be.” Azizi looked over towards where Kamari was sitting besides him. “Have you met him before?” 

“Only once.” Kamari muttered, turning his attention away from Azizi and back towards outside. As his hope of Shenzi returning slowly faded inside him, he said solemnly, “If Shenzi doesn’t come back then I am in charge.” 

“Why do you get to be in charge?” Azizi asked. 

“Because I would be the better leader.” Kamari insisted, “Plus I’m the smartest.” 

Azizi glared at Kamari and asked, “Hey, are you calling me stupid?” 

“What? No.” Kamari said, putting on an innocent smile, “I’m just saying between the two of us I’m smarter.” 

“Still a mean thing to say. You may be smarter, but I am the far better hunter.” 

Shaking his head in disapproval, Kamari sighed. He didn’t think this would be such a point of contention with Azizi, it just made perfect sense for him to take charge if Shenzi was gone. “At least I’ve never let an antelope go during a hunt, which means I’ve done it one less time than you have.” 

“At least I didn’t run away at the first sign of trouble! What kind of leader would leave his friends behind?” 

Kamari hung his head, slightly ashamed. He huffed a bit, but he didn’t say anything. He ended up laying his head on the ground as he continued staring at the vacant and perfectly still wasteland in front of them. 

After a few moments of motionless silence fell upon the graveyard, Azizi finally worked up the courage to ask. “Neither of us are going to have to be leaders… are we? Shenzi will come back right?” 

Was she going to come back? Kamari had no idea what he was going to do if she didn’t. The more he thought about it, the more he missed Shenzi. She always knew what was best, and even though he knew he would be a better leader than Azizi, Shenzi was always so confident. What were they even going to do for food without her? He took a deep breath. “Yeah, she’ll come back.” 

The two of them settled into an uncomfortable silence as they both obsessively watched for any movement, or any hope that Shenzi was alive. Kamari kept expecting her to emerge from the border and bolt down into the graveyard, perfectly fine, but still there was no movement. As the minutes dragged onto hours, their eyes started to feel more and more heavy and then eventually Kamari and Azizi both couldn’t be bothered to keep their heads up and they both slowly drifted off to sleep.


End file.
